High-Pressure Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Properties of GdS2 with Thermodynamic Investigations in the Phase Diagram Gd-S,
- Gadolinium disulfide was prepared by high-pressure synthesis at 8 GPa and 1173 K. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P121/a1 (No. 14) with lattice parameters a = 7.879(1) Å; b = 3.936(1) Å, c = 7.926(1) Å and β = 90.08(1)°. The crystal structure is a twofold superstructure of the aristotype ZrSSi and consists of puckered cationic [GdS]+ double slabs that are sandwiched by planar sulfur sheets containing S22– dumbbells. The thermal decomposition of GdS2 proceeds via the sulfur-deficient polysulfides GdS1.9, GdS1.85 and GdS1.77 and eventually results in the sesquisulfide Gd2S3. GdS2 is a paramagnetic semiconductor which orders antiferromagnetically at TN = 7.7(1) K. A metamagnetic transition is observed in the magnetically ordered state.